₦airaland Forum

His name is Satan and he is also known by thirty-two other appellations. Satan was not his given name at the time of his creation, nor was it Lucifer as I and a lot of us proclaiming Christianity were led to believe. Satan is a descriptive name, which means “Adversary; Enemy; Accuser.” He came to be called Satan because he chose a life course in opposition to God. By provoking insurrection, this once trusted angel made himself Satan - an adversary and enemy of God. The appellation “Devil,” which means “Slanderer,” was also added to his description.

Satan does not stop at opposing God, he attacks us, everything about us, every day of our lives, sometimes with obviousness, sometimes with insidiousness. That is why we have evangelists, pastors, priests, reverends, bishops, archbishops and a pope. That is why we erect house fellowships, cell fellowships, worship houses, churches, temples, synagogues and cathedrals.

These men, and women recently, were enthroned by us so that they can guide us in everyday of our lives in fighting back for ourselves at the Devil. The places of worship we build are the bunkers we remember to run into when the pressures of the 'battle' becomes nigh unbearable, and when we need to fortify ourselves.

These men, and women that we elected, or who sometimes elected themselves, to be our Commanders-in Chief, encourage us within the walls of the places of worship to stand tall, call the Devil names and declare him defeated. It is very funny but not amusing when we know that a lot of us do not talk to God as we should, a lot of us do not study the Word as we should, a lot of us do not worship God in Spirit and Truth and a lot of us are still encumbered in ignoble acts that stink to high heavens. Angels must have some sort of gas masks to keep them from passing out from the stench.

We lie to ourselves about a lot of things. Especially after we declare and accept Jesus Christ as our Saviour, saying that His blood has been spilt for our sins and washes them away and we are yet to desist from persisting in sin. A lot of us do not know, even I did not know, that our sinful acts after all declarations, pledges and acceptances put Jesus through the excruciating agony of crucifixion all over again. Satan showed me exactly where this and many others that turned my blood cold are in the bible. Very few of the men, and women, in whom we repose all our trust to guide us on the route to the Book of Life ever show us that. As for me, I don't remember being shown such at any point in my life. After taking trust from us they go ahead and take our blood, sweat and tears and tell us it is used to support God's work.  Another lie is that a lot of us think that becoming Christians makes us immune from attack by the devil. If you read the parable of the sower again (I believe you must have read it a lot of times before, especially as a child because it is the most popular of all the parables) we were clearly taught that Satan would come and take away what has been seeded in our hearts.

See, it is true that at the end of it all that Satan and his faithfuls, both the knowing and the unknowing will be destroyed but going by the numbers he is actually a better soul winner than all the clergy men, and women in the world put together. If this is not true, then tell me why is the other parabolic road wide? That begs the question, is he really losing? Deducing from everything he and I discussed, whether you believe it or not, I don't think he is losing. Personal opinion, you might say. Dust off the clouds of sentiments about you and you will not need further proof.

Let me reveal to you some things Satan said to me during the interview. He said he is always at church before the preacher is in the pulpit or a member is in the pew. He went on to say that he comes to hinder the sower, to impoverish the soil, and to corrupt the seed. He told me that most of the times, he is not directly involved in all these. His movements and methods pass us by every moment and we never notice them. That is because he has this rare ability to get others to do his work and execute his machinations. But here is the frightening part, he said uses these tactics only when courage and faith are in the pulpit, and zeal and prayer are in the pew. How does he do it? He works by counterfeit. He flourishes in making something as close to the original as possible and, thereby, breaking the force and value of the genuine. But if he finds dead ritualism in the pulpit and live liberalism in the pew, he is not hassled because such situations are of no peril and therefore no consequence to him.

Recently Satan is very happy with himself. Why? You will ask. I will tell you. He has been able to achieve one thing insidiously; materialization of churches. Let me explain further; man now lives for bread alone, the world is now bigger than heaven to a lot of us (even when we hate to admit it), and he has been able to make time more interesting than eternity. Let me make you understand how deep the foxhole goes. We think Satan's supreme objective is to destroy the church, no, all he wants is just control of the church and he has it. He has been able to divert the divine purpose of the church. He did this in the most subtle way so that there would be no startling change and nothing to shock or alarm. You think I am lying, don't you? Well, these days a lot of our churches are referred to as strong because their membership is large, they are socially and most times politically positioned and possess financial resources. Our churches are perceived as powerful because ability, learning, and eloquence fill the pulpits, and the pews are filled by fashion, intelligence, money, and influence. Seriously? Are you not seeing that the very worms of worldliness are fattening themselves by nibbling away at us Christians?

There is still hope. He is not so happy. In fact he is most times plagued with disappointments in himself because there are Christians, he mentioned, that are resistant to his wiles and beguiles to levels that has been exceptionally discouraging. The ones that worship in Spirit and in Truth, he said. He said those ones are specially marked enemies of his. He went on to reveal that he can fight these Christians because they are very few in number. Population disadvantage. Well he never fights fair so what was I expecting? He went on to tell me that he makes the lives of these specially marked ones an intense lifelong warfare, hoping that for a period as brief as what it takes to blink an eye, to break their consentient resolve. He showed me a glimpse of what these specially marked ones face; a ferocious battle, moreover, waged by the third most powerful being created (and yet we underestimate him in every way we humanly can), an invisible adversary, who is ever alert, and ever seeking to entrap, deceive, and intent on ruin. Unrestrained by sentiments that soften and move human or divine hearts, he goes after those enemies of his with no pity and no sympathy. Many of us are on his side in this battle for souls and within that many, much more of us are oblivious of where we are encamped.

We zealously believe in the men, and women of the priestly class, take to their ways and words more serious than any other person's and we think we have won? I thought as hard as you are thinking now. This question, the very last statement he made is what really scares me and I ask you; are these men, and women with their ways and teachings, and edifices keeping Satan out of our lives, or the other way round?